Joe Rivers (born March 20, 1937) is a singer who was one half of the duet with Johnnie Richardson known as Johnnie & Joe. They were an American R&B vocal duo from The Bronx, New York, United States, who were best known for their 1957 hit "Over the Mountain; Across the Sea."
Richardson was born in Montgomery, Alabama on June 29, 1935. She was the daughter of singer-songwriter and record producer Zelma “Zell” Sanders who had been a touring member of an all-girl R&B vocal group The Hearts. At that time Sanders owned and ran her own label, J&S Records, whose one of its artists The Jaynetts sang the mystifying classic “Sally Go Round the Roses.” Joe Rivers, on the other hand, was born in Charleston, North Carolina.
Rivers just migrated to New York when he was spotted by singer-songwriter and pianist Rex Garvin who also was the house arranger of J&S. Garvin told Sanders that he felt Rivers had potential. Agreeing to this, Zell had Garvin team up Rivers with her own daughter Johnny Louise Richardson.
Rivers and Richardson began to strike up a good working and musical partnership. They sang and harmonized together well enough to warrant them a recording right away. Their first record was a song titled “I’ll Be Spinning,” written by Garvin who also played the piano on the track. Released as a single by J&S, it was picked for national distribution by Chess Records in 1957. It became the duo’s first charting single, peaking at #10 on the R&B chart that year.
The duo’s second single “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea,” was also written by Gavin. It was first a single by J&S, the eventually was picked up for national distribution again by Chess Records in 1957. “Over the Mountain, Across the Sea” became Johnnie and Joe’s biggest hit record, peaking at #3 on the R&B singles chart and also crossed over to the pop chart at #8.
Joe Rivers carried the bulk of the vocal duties, with Johnnie Louise Richardson often not so much a harmonizer or co-lead singer as one who wove around wordlessly in the distance, occasionally adding a spoken recitation. That's the formula that made "Over the Mountain, Across the Sea" so memorable. The flip side, “My Baby’s Gone, On, On” was also penned by Garvin. It also received a decent amount of airplay and even made it to the charts at #15 R&B.
Johnnie & Joe’s third single “It Was There” b/w “There Goes My Heart (On Fire For You)” failed to chart nationally. Sadly, the high point of the accomplishments by this duo could not be sustained. They came up with fine sounding songs, but the records just did not click with the listeners. Further releases for J&S and variety of other labels in the 60s went nowhere and the time of Johnnie & Joe was now over.
After a brief association in the Jaynetts girl group in 1963, Richardson resumed her career with Rivers and the pair made records throughout the 60s. During the 70s and 80s they performed in oldies concerts, and made a critically acclaimed album “Kingdom Of Love”, in 1982. Also the pair did manage to record some sides as solo artists.
Johnnie Louise Richardson was felled by a stroke aged 53 in 1988. Joe Rivers still performed on occasion with new female partners such as former Toys member Barbara Parrett Toomer, playing the "Johnnie" role.
(Edited from Mental Itch, Doowopheaven & AllMusic)